Recording device for poultry



June 10, 1930. j HQDGES 1,762,687

RECORDING DEVICE FOR POULTRY Filed Jan. 9, 1928 f 8 mum 10742555; /2 JAMES M 16 0065 Patented June 10, 1930 PATENT OFFICE J'AMES-M.' HODGES, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY RECORDING DEVICE ron POULTRY I Application filed January 9, 1928. Serial No. 245,606.

This invention relates to marking devices and more particularly to a device applicable to the leg of a hen or other fowl and constituting means for registering the movements of the fowl and more particularly the entrance of the fowl into a trap or other type of nest, and the invention therefore contemplates the provision of means whereby the identity of a fowl entering a nest for laying purposes may be recorded without any attention on the part of a caretaker, likewise obviating the handling of the fowl, thus effecting a great saving in time and labor which has heretofore been required in keeping records of the laying qualities of a large number of fowls.

Another object of the invention is to provide a recording device for the purpose stated which will be extremely simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture and which may be readily applied. to the leg of a fowl without the employment of any tools and in a manner such as not to offer any inconvenience to the freedom of 5 movement of the fowl.

While the accompanying drawing and the description which is to follow, constitute a disclosure of the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that various changes may be made within the scope of what is claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the marking device embodying the invention a 5 plied to the leg of a fowl;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View through the device, the marking plunger being shown in elevation and in a full lowered or marking position;

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the device;

Figure 4 is a plan 'view illustrating a portion of a record sheet which has been impressed by the marker.

The marker embodying the invention may be made of any material found suitable for the purpose and preferably of a material light in weight and yet possessing suflicient V strength to insure stability of the marker and the proper functioning thereof, and as illustrated in the drawing the marker includes a strip like body member 1 which is provided at its upper and lower ends with resilient bowed attaching fingers 2 and 3, the member 1 being preferably of metal of a resilient character and the fingers 2 and 3 at the upper and lower ends of the member being adapted to be frictionally engaged about the leg of a fowl in the manner clearly shown in Figure l of the drawing, so as to firmly mount the body member 1 upon the leg and at the same time cause no inconvenience to the fowl.

Sleeve members 4L and 5 are mounted upon the body member 1 at the upper and lower ends thereof, and a stem 6 is slidably fitted through the lower sleeve member 5 and has its upper end slidably fitting into the bore of the upper sleeve member 4:, the upper end of the bore of the sleeve member at being 7 preferably closed as indicated by the numeral 7 A compression spring 8 is arranged within the bore of the sleeve member 4 and bears at its upper end against the closed end of the bore and at its lower end against 7 a collar or head 9 which is preferably fixed upon the upper end of the stem 6, the spring yieldably holding the stem in a downwardly shifted position, and the movement of the stem to this position being limited by a cross pin 10 which is fitted diametrically through the stem and which normally rests upon the upper end of the lower sleeve 5.

A head 11 is fixed at the lower end of the stem 6 and is preferably of the circular form illustrated in the drawing, and type characters 12 are provided upon the under face of the disk and may be arranged in any desired manner as for example in an arcuate series as shown clearly in Figure 3 of the drawing, these characters projecting a suflicient distance below the plane of the under side of the head 11 to insure of contact with a surface over which the fowl is walking.

The type characters 12 may constitute letters of the alphabet and one or more numbers and, in the specific embodiment illustrated in the drawing, the characters comprise the letters RR, and the numeral 100 vention. I I I Q As illustrated in Figure 1 andfindicated by the numerall3, characters corresponding ployed upon hens who .are accustomed to lay in trap nests, a sheet of paper may be spread upon the inner sideofthe door of the nest,

which door constitutes a step orplatform, when 1n open pos1t1on,and a second sheet may be arranged above the first n entloned sheet and a carbon sheet interposed between the two sheets with its carbonbearing surface presented to the first mentioned sheet. lVhen the sheets have been thus arranged and temporarily fixed in place by anysuitable means, any hen entering a nest the door of which is provided with the sheets, will,

in passing over the door, which atsuch time constitutes a platform, to enter :the nest.

bring thecharacter bearing face of thehead ing a body member, leg embracingmeans carried thereby, upper and lower sleeves upon the body member, a stem slidably mounted in said sleeves, a spring within the upper sleeve-bearing against the upper end of the stem and yieldabl'y holding the same in a downward position, and an impressing member at the lower end 'ofthe stem;

2. Adevice of theclass describedcon1pris- 7 'ing body member, leg embracing means carried thereby, upper. and, lower sleeves upon the body member, a stem slidably mounted infsaid' sleeves, aspring within the upper sleeve bearingagainst theupper end of the'stem and yieldably'holding the same in a downward position, andan impressing member at the lower end of the stem, the said impressing member comprising'a disk fixed centrally tothe stem, and type charact ers upon the under face of the'disk. p In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

JAM-ES HODGES.

11 into impressingengagement with the upperinost one of the sheets of paper and, inasmuch as thehead 11 is yieldably held by the spring 8, in a position occupying a plane lower than the under side of the claw of the leg, the movementof the claw into contact with the surface of the paper willresult in the character bearing face of the head 11 being brought to bear with considerable pressure upon the surface of the paper, due to the resiliency'of the spring 8 and the pressure exerted thereby, against the stem 6, so that an impression of the type faces of the head 11 will be effected upon the face of the first mentioned sheet of paper through the medium of the carbon sheet. Therefore,

as a number of hens may enter any one nest 1n the period of a day, each hen, entering i the nest, will automatically cause its identification charactersto be impressed upon the record sheet. 7

While the device has been illustratedand described as adapted primarily for use in connection with fowls, it will be evident that the device mightbe applied to the legs of animals for any purpose desired, without departing from the spirit of the into the type faces 12 may be impressed or otherwise depicted upon one of the arms of the upperfpair2 so that if the devices, before application to the fowl, are arranged in arow or in a similar manner, any desired selection may be madefromthe group.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

device of the class described comprisv 

